Other Items of Interest to ARL Directors

GOVERNANCE AND MEMBERSHIP ACTIVITIES

1. ARL Strategic Plan Review Task Force Established

A Strategic Plan Review Task Force has been formed to undertake a review and consultation with the membership to assure that the Association is focused properly and that strategies within programs meet needs. Over the next several months, members of the task force, supplemented with members of the Board, will conduct structured telephone interviews of all member library representatives to invite views on the strategic directions and the priorities of the Association for 2010-14. A preliminary report on the findings will be represented in May at the Membership Meeting. Past President Marianne Gaunt (Rutgers) chairs the task force. Others serving on the task force are: Frank D'Andraia (Albany), Joyce Garnett (Western Ontario), Brenda Johnson (California, Santa Barbara), Olivia Madison (Iowa State), James Neal (Columbia), and Dana Rooks (Houston). ARL Executive Director Charles B. Lowry serves as an ex-officio member of the task force. For more information, contact Jaia Barrett jaia@arl.org.

2. ARL Task Force Reviewing OCLC Policy on Use of Records

OCLC recently posted a new policy to replace the 20-year-old guidelines that governed how derived records were handled by participating libraries. The new policy is available, along with FAQs, on the OCLC Web site http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/catalog/policy/default.htm. In response to questions and concerns about the new OCLC policy, a short-term task force was formed by the ARL Executive Committee to analyze the policy, comparing it to the previous guidelines, and providing an analysis of the impact of the change. This is not intended to be a legal analysis. The task force is co-chaired by Carol Mandel (NYU) and Bob Wolven (Columbia). Others serving on the task force are Judith Nadler (Chicago), Erin Stalberg (North Carolina State), John Wilkin (Michigan), and Roberta J. Winjum (Vanderbilt). ARL's Prue Adler prue@arl.org and Julia Blixrud jblix@arl.org serve as staff liaisons.

3. Status of ARL Committee, Task Force, Working Group Appointments for 2009

The ARL Executive Committee met on January 5 to update the committee and working group appointments for 2009. As the information becomes available, an updated roster will be published on the ARL Web site http://www.arl.org/arl/governance/cmte.shtml. Questions may be directed to Jaia Barrett jaia@arl.org.

SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION

4. Faculty Outreach Workshop Deadline Extended to Jan. 30

To support libraries encountering budget uncertainties, the registration deadline has been extended to January 30 for “Scholarly Communication Outreach: Crafting Messages that Grab Faculty Attention,” March 11–12, 2009, in Seattle. Alane Wilson, an expert in library marketing, will join Jon Wergin, an expert in higher education change, in leading the workshop. Participants will work with Wergin to create strategies for discovering faculty perspectives and with Wilson to devise approaches to message development. See http://www.arl.org/sc/institute/inst-events/0309workshop.shtml.

5. SCOAP3 Information Session to Be Held at ALA Midwinter

An information session with Dr. Salvatore Mele, Project Leader of the Open Access Section and Interim Project Manager for SCOAP3 at the CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research, will be held at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver, Saturday, January 24, 2009, 10:30 a.m.–noon, at the Colorado Convention Center, Room 705 (no registration necessary). SCOAP3 is an effort to facilitate open access publishing in high energy physics journals. Fore more information see, http://www.arl.org/news/pr/scoap3-12dec08.shtml.

6. SPARC and ACRL Announce Slate for Denver Forum on Open Educational Resources

Four pioneers from the open educational resources community will offer their insights into “The Transformative Potential of Open Educational Resources” at the next SPARC-ACRL Forum, to be held during the 2009 American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Denver. Panelists will include Richard Baraniuk, David Wiley, Nicole Allen, and Mark Nelson. The forum will be held 4:00–5:30 p.m., Saturday, January 24, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Centennial D. The ACRL Scholarly Communications Discussion Group will also host an open conversation about issues that surface at the forum, 4:00–5:30 p.m., Sunday, January 25, in room 403 of the Colorado Convention Center. For more information, see http://www.arl.org/sparc/media/08-1215.shtml.

7. Emory Libraries Join Zotero Project

Emory University Libraries and the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University will now be working jointly to develop the Zotero application, an open source bibliographic management tool. The two organizations will collaborate to expand Zotero’s capacity to support scholars’ creation of Web 2.0 communities, archive information with the Internet Archive, and offer text-mining capabilities. Further information on the new partnership is available at http://www.emory.edu/home/news/releases/2008/11/emory-university-libraries-in-zotero-partnership.html. Information on Zotero is available at http://www.zotero.org/.

8. Digital Preservation Report Issued by Blue Ribbon Task Force

The Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access has issued a report examining the economic issues presented by the ongoing digital deluge. If we want to retain access to key parts of the digital data and cultural records that are now created constantly, a fundamental challenge is finding the means to support the management and preservation on which future research and scholarship will rely. This interim report outlines the requirements for economically sustainable digital preservation, and identifies and explains the necessary conditions for achieving economic sustainability. The report is available at http://brtf.sdsc.edu/biblio/BRTF_Interim_Report.pdf.

9. SPARC 2008 Letter to Members

2008 was a remarkable year for the library community, marking the debut of two game-changing policies in our collective advance toward a richer and more open system for scholarly communication--the NIH Public Access Policy and the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences open access policy. SPARC worked throughout 2008 to support these policies and to continue to enable the climate of openness pictured in our shared vision by: ensuring public access to the results of publicly funded research, raising libraries’ role in campus policy, and expanding the coalition for open access to research. Read the Director’s letter for specifics on SPARC’s 2008 programs http://www.arl.org/sparc/member/2008letter.shtml.

10. SPARC Welcomes Newest Steering Committee Members

SPARC welcomes four new members to the Steering Committee, to serve three-year terms beginning January 2009: Jonathan Miller, Rollins College (non-ARL director); Randy Olsen, Brigham Young University (ARL director); Patricia Renfro, Columbia University (staff representative); and Lee Van Orsdel, Grand Valley State University (non-ARL director). For more information, see http://www.arl.org/sparc/media/2008-sparc-election-results.shtml.

Thought leaders and practitioners from higher education and beyond called on participants at the SPARC Digital Repositories Meeting in Baltimore on November 17-18 to continue their digital repository development efforts and offered strategies for building on experience gained to date. View presentations from the meeting online http://www.arl.org/sparc/media/08-1218.shtml.

PUBLIC POLICIES AFFECTING RESEARCH LIBRARIES

12. ARL Calls for Creation of Universal, Open Library or Digital Data Commons

Linking job creation, access to our nation's cultural and scientific resources, and the value of making public domain resources broadly available, ARL calls upon the incoming Obama administration to engage in a large-scale initiative to digitize public domain collections. The ARL policy statement notes that, "deepening our understanding of our Nation and its culture and history, advancing scientific discovery, tackling environmental, economic issues and more, all depend on scientists, researchers, students, scholars, and members of the public accessing our Nation’s cultural, historical and scientific assets. A large-scale initiative to digitize and preserve the public domain collections of library, governmental, and cultural memory organizations will support research, teaching and learning at all levels, will help stem the current economic crisis by equipping and employing workers in every state with 21st Century skills, and it will lay a foundation for innovation and national competitiveness in the decades ahead. The goal is to establish a universal, open library or a digital data commons." The statement is available online http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/ibopenlibpsa2.pdf. For more information, contact Prue Adler prue@arl.org.

13. ARL Joins in Copyright and Privacy Policy Statements to Obama Transition Team

In December 2008, ARL collaborated with others in the public and private sectors on additional policy statements on copyright and privacy concerns for the incoming Obama administration to consider. On copyright and intellectual property issues, ARL joined with other associations on a policy statement entitled "Balanced Copyright Preserves Right to Innovate." The document states: “Innovation is the key to lifting America out of this recession. While copyright promotes creativity, many of the specific measures adopted or recently proposed to protect copyright in the digital age actually impede innovative technologies and services. Administration policy must, in an open and transparent manner, safeguard the copyright balance and protect the right to innovate in order to ensure the vitality of the information-driven economy.” The Library Copyright Alliance, of which ARL is a member, issued a statement entitled “A Pro-Library Copyright Agenda,” which lists key copyright issues of importance to the library community that require focus by the incoming administration. Finally, ARL joined with others in the public sector in a letter regarding the importance of protecting privacy. The policy statements and letter can be found at http://www.arl.org/pp/index.shtml and http://epic.org/.

On December 15, 2008, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld an earlier ruling striking down provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act--the “gag order”--which prevent recipients of a national security letter (NSL) from speaking about the request for records. The ruling stems from an American Civil Liberties (ACLU) and New York Civil Liberties Union lawsuit filed on behalf of an Internet service provider that had received an NSL. The ACLU notes that the ruling by the appeals court, “invalidated parts of the statute that wrongly placed the burden on NSL recipients to initiate judicial review of gag order, holding that the government has the burden to go to court and justify silencing NSL recipients. The appeals court also invalidated parts of the statute that narrowly limited judicial review of gag orders.” For more information, see http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/38113prs20081215.html.

The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) and the Music Library Association (MLA) filed comments in the recent Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Section 1201 rulemaking. Every three years, the US Copyright Office conducts a rulemaking to consider possible exemptions for libraries, educational institutions, and users to legitimately circumvent technological protection measures when trying to access a copyrighted work. In the previous Section 1201 rulemaking, the Library of Congress granted an exemption for “audiovisual works included in the educational library of a college or university’s film or media studies department, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of making compilations of portions of those works for educational use in the classroom by media studies or film professors.” LCA and MLA called for the exemption to be broadened in two important, related ways. First, the exemption should apply to audiovisual works included in any college or university library, not just the library of the media studies department. Second, the exemption should apply to classroom uses by instructors in all subjects, not just media studies or film professors. For more information, see http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/2dec2008_1201comments-1.pdf.

The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) filed comments on the European Commission’s "Green Paper on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy." In it’s letter, LCA supported, “the adoption of mandatory specific exceptions in all the areas raised by the Green Paper: libraries and museums, people with disabilities, teaching and research, and user generated content. In addition to mandating the adoption of specific exceptions, the EU should also require enactment of a general fair use exception similar to that contained in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act. In a time of rapid technological change, the legislative process, particularly on a Union-wide basis, simply cannot keep pace with the new uses enabled by new technologies. A flexible and robust fair use provision allows the law to evolve quickly in response to the realities of the marketplace.” The letter is available via http://www.librarycopyrightalliance.org/lcanew.htm.

17. ARL Joins in Call for Bailout Transparency

ARL joined OpentheGovernment.org and 79 other organizations focused on open government in a letter calling on US Congress to improve oversight and transparency of the financial bailout activities. The signatories asked Congress to use its oversight authority to make the financial bailout more accountable to the public as well as its legislative authority to make the bailout more transparent. In addition, in letters to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the House Committee on Financial Services, ARL and others asked members of Congress to oppose provisions of the financial industry bailout plan that would make any decisions by the Secretary of the Treasury non-reviewable by courts or administrative agencies. The letters are available online http://www.openthegovernment.org/article/articleview/354/1/115/?TopicID=.

LIBRARY ROLES IN RESEARCH, TEACHING, AND LEARNING

ARL has published the results of a survey that explores member libraries’ innovations in virtual resource development and instructional programming. ARL libraries are setting a rapid pace for experimentation as they replace or supplement traditional information literacy classes with a variety of library engagements in classrooms, through course management systems, and in the virtual spaces inhabited by students and faculty. Respondents to this survey conducted by ARL during the late winter and early spring of 2008 described a widely varied landscape of instruction initiatives.

The complete survey responses are available on the ARL Web site, organized (1) by subtopics that emerged in the responses and (2) alphabetically by institution; see http://www.arl.org/rtl/roles/vrii/. Please note that key-word searching can be applied to the PDF of the complete survey results. A summary of the responses is also available as “Research Library Instruction Initiatives: Varied, Evolving, Shaped by Local Cultures,” by Crit Stuart, in ARL: A Bimonthly Report, no. 261 (Dec. 2008): 5-8, http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arl-br-261-vrii.pdf.

The implications of mobile technologies and mobile users for academic libraries are highlighted in the current issue of the ARL Bimonthly Report, no. 261. Joan K. Lippincott, CNI Associate Executive Director, describes some of the innovative ways in which a limited number of academic libraries are already designing services around mobile technologies and mobile users. She also lays out the issues that should be discussed on individual campuses as libraries examine their role in the move to mobile. This is a particularly timely article in light of the December 14, 2008, release of the Pew Internet and American Life Project report The Future of the Internet III, which predicts that the mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the Internet for most people in the world in 2020. The Pew report is available at http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/270/report_display.asp and the Lippincott article can be found at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arl-br-261-mobile.pdf.

20. NCSU’s Lisa Carter Named ARL Visiting Program Officer for Special Collections

Lisa Carter, Head of the Special Collections Research Center at the North Carolina State University Libraries, has been appointed ARL Visiting Program Officer to work with the Special Collections Working Group. Carter’s VPO assignment is part of an ARL objective to promote collaborative integration and enduring access to comprehensive research collections and resources in all formats that could be used to advance research, teaching, and learning. It is within this broad context that the Special Collections Working Group addresses issues associated with the collection, surfacing, and leveraging of special collections. Carter's primary responsibility is to work with working group Chair Alice Prochaska, University Librarian, Yale University, to develop agendas, to facilitate the sharing of ideas that will advance the ARL objective, and to assist with planning and preparation for a conference in late 2009. Carter may be contacted at lisa_carter@ncsu.edu.

CLIR has announced the first-year recipients of Andrew W. Mellon Foundation–funded grants totaling $4,000,000 to support a national program that identifies and catalogs hidden special collections and archives. The intention of the CLIR program is to highlight swift and efficient methods of cataloging and archiving hidden collections, while at the same time bringing to light collections with extraordinary value to scholars and students. The program will initially produce two layers of information: a basic Web-based registry of hidden collections and archives and a descriptive record of a subset of collections that are deemed most urgently in need of cataloging and documentation. CLIR anticipates the creation of a third layer of information to be funded by other sources—the production of digital versions of the collections that are cataloged. A novel stipulation of the program is that grantees employ graduate students, paraprofessionals, and other staff to provide a cost-effective and swift generation of records. Applicants based their proposals on technical solutions that already exist for swift and efficient entry of data, which can then be translated into standard records formats such as EAD and MARC. For more information, see http://www.clir.org/pubs/issues/index.html#hid.

22. Digital Humanities Centers: CLIR Publishes Survey Results

The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) has published the results of a survey by Diane Zorich that CLIR commissioned in 2007 to gain a better understanding of US-based digital humanities centers. The survey focused on the infrastructure needed to support such scholarship, and explored “their financing, organizational structure, products, services, and sustainability.” Both physical and virtual humanities centers were reviewed. Among the findings are that relatively isolated centers are creating “untethered digital production” that is detrimental to the needs of humanities scholarship; the independent nature of centers fails to leverage resources across the wider landscape; and efforts to address overarching issues in building cyberinfrastructure are missing. The survey also reviews digital tools that have been developed by digital humanities centers to facilitate access and research, and weighs in on their relative ease of use and functionality. The longer-term goal of the survey is to provide the Scholarly Communications Institute with a greater understanding of existing centers to inform their discussions about regional and national centers. This report may be acquired from the CLIR Web site via http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub143abst.html.

23. CNI Update

There will be several opportunities to hear from CNI at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver:

Clifford Lynch, CNI Executive Director, will participate in a panel discussion regarding net neutrality, and he will also be part of the LITA panel discussing "Top Technology Trends," both on Sunday, January 25.

Joan Lippincott, CNI Associate Executive Director, will discuss net-gen students at the Serials Solution (Proquest) breakfast for library directors and CTOs and at the ARL Leadership Institute, both on Saturday, January 24.

Over 400 representatives, speakers, and guests attended the Fall 2008 CNI Task Force Meeting, which was held in Washington DC on December 8-9. An executive roundtable discussion was held on the university’s role in the dissemination of research and scholarship. The Third Annual Mellon Awards for Technology Collaboration were presented by Google’s Vint Cerf as part of the opening plenary, which also included a presentation on CNI’s 2008-2009 program plan by Clifford Lynch. The closing plenary featured Professor Christine Borgman, chair of the committee that wrote the National Science Foundation report on cyberlearning. Supporting materials are available on the meeting Web site http://www.cni.org/tfms/2008b.fall/index.html.

DIVERSITY, PROFESSIONAL WORKFORCE, AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

24. Annual Leadership Institute to Be Held at Midwinter

In conjunction with the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver, the ARL Diversity Initiatives will host the Fifth Annual Leadership Institute for MLS students. The Leadership Institute will focus on issues related to transitioning into, and building career networks in, research libraries. The program will include guest presentations from library leaders and former ARL Diversity Scholars. The institute includes several opportunities for ARL directors and ARL library HR directors to meet with MLS students. This annual event is a component of the ARL Diversity Initiatives, which include the Career Enhancement Program, Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce, and the Leadership and Career Development Program. For more information and the institute schedule, see http://www.arl.org/diversity/leadinst/.

25. Diversity Initiatives Award Fellowships and Stipends to MLS Students

The ARL Diversity Initiatives have selected 35 MLS students from underrepresented groups to receive encouragement and financial support to pursue careers in research libraries. The Career Enhancement Program (CEP) has identified 18 MLS students to participate in the inaugural offering of CEP, which includes a fellowship experience in an ARL member library. In addition, the Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce has awarded stipends to 17 students for graduate study. Both programs are funded by ARL member libraries and the Institute for Museum and Library Services. The programs reflect the commitment of ARL members to create a diverse research library community that will better meet the new challenges of global competition and changing demographics. For more details about the awards, see http://www.arl.org/news/pr/cep-6jan09.shtml and http://www.arl.org/news/pr/diversity-scholars-8dec08.shtml.

LIBRARY STATISTICS AND ASSESSMENT

26. ARL Statistical Surveys Update

ARL Annual Salary Survey 2008-09: Surveys are currently being verified. Please respond to our follow-up queries—our goal is to verify the data and publish preliminary tables in January.

ARL Statistics, ARL Academic Health Sciences, ARL Academic Law Libary Statistics, ARL Supplementary Statistics, and ARL Preservation Statistics, 2007–08: an enhanced system for data collection that allows libraries to access data as they are being submitted was rolled out. The complete mailing for these annual surveys is online http://www.arl.org/stats/annualsurveys/arlstats/08statmail.shtml.

The meeting will include reports about the ARL Ad Hoc Task Force on Best Practices for Counting Serial Titles; Statistics and Measurement Program update; and the latest developments regarding LibQUAL+®, ClimateQUALTM, and MINES for Libraries.

27. ARL Statistics “Counting Serial Titles” Webcast Archive Available

The ARL Statistics December 10th webcast to member libraries, “Counting Serial Titles,” is now available on the ARL Statistics Web site. The presentation’s PowerPoint slides may also be downloaded separately from the site. The webcast reported on the findings of the ARL Ad Hoc Task Force on Best Practices for Counting Serial Titles and the way the work of the group has informed changes in the ARL Statistics 2007–08 survey. Martha Kyrillidou (Director, ARL Statistics and Service Quality Programs) and Julia Blixud (Assistant Executive Director, External Relations) provided background on the work of the task force and how the revised definitions are working for libraries. Joyce McDonough (Director, Continuing and Electronic Resources Management, Columbia University), a member of the task force, discussed her engagement with the task force and how her library implemented new counting procedures for serials. More than 150 representatives from ARL member libraries participated in the event. The ARL Statistics team encourages all ARL libraries’ survey coordinators to view the webcast in order to better understand the method of calculating the serials collections. See http://www.arl.org/stats/annualsurveys/arlstats/08statmail.shtml.

ARL has published the ARL Statistics 2006–2007, ARL Academic Health Sciences Library Statistics 2006–2007, and ARL Academic Law Library Statistics 2006–2007. The ARL Statistics 2006–2007 is the latest in a series of annual publications that describe the collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities of ARL’s 123 member libraries. Of these member libraries, 113 are university libraries (14 in Canada, 99 in the US); the remaining 10 are public, governmental, and private research libraries (2 in Canada, 8 in the US). The total library expenditures of all 123 member libraries in 2006–2007 was more than $3.9 billion; of that total, over $2.9 billion was spent by the 113 university libraries and $951 million was spent by the 10 nonuniversity libraries. For more information about the ARL Statistics or to download the data files or a PDF of the publication, please visit http://www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/.

The ARL Academic Health Sciences Library Statistics 2006–2007 presents data that describe collections, expenditures, personnel, and services in 65 medical libraries at ARL member institutions throughout North America. In 2006–2007, the reporting health sciences libraries held a median of 244,188 volumes, spent a total of $244,188,020, and employed 2,395 FTE staff. Expenditures for materials and staff accounted for the bulk of total expenditures, at 47% and 41% respectively. Respondents reported spending a total of $75,592,753 for electronic materials, or an average of 67% of their total materials budgets; this includes a total of $71,413,063 for electronic serials. For more information about the ARL Academic Health Sciences Library Statistics or to download the data files or a PDF of the publication, visit http://www.arl.org/stats/annualsurveys/med/.

The ARL Academic Law Library Statistics 2006–2007 presents data that describe collections, expenditures, personnel, and services in 75 law libraries at ARL member institutions throughout North America. In 2006–2007, the reporting law libraries held a median of 332,247 volumes, spent a total of $208,820,262, and employed 2,201 FTE staff. Expenditures for materials and staff accounted for the bulk of total expenditures, at 47% and 45% respectively. Respondents reported spending a total of $17,259,064 for electronic materials; this includes a total of $14,864,912 for electronic serials. For more information about the ARL Academic Law Library Statistics or to download the data files or a PDF of the publication, please visit http://www.arl.org/stats/annualsurveys/law/.

29. LibQUAL+® Update

On January 26 in Denver, we are offering three LibQUAL training sessions: (1) Survey Introduction, (2) Survey Administration, and (3) Survey Results. Colleen Cook and Bruce Thompson (Texas A&M) will be available to discuss the latest applications and research of the protocol. Amy Hoseth (Colorado State) and Karen Neurohr (Oklahoma State) will present ways to work with the results within your organization. If you are not attending our meetings, read Amy Hoseth's practical suggestions on how to maximize your survey results, "We Did LibQUAL+®--Now What?" College & Undergraduate Libraries, 14, no. 3 (2008): 75-84.

The 2008 survey closed on December 10, collecting over 167,900 responses from 206 surveys. Survey results—individual and group notebooks, raw data files, and user comments—are available to participating libraries online at http://www.libqual.org/Manage/Results/index.cfm.

In 2008, we welcomed universities from Belgium (1), France (5), Japan (3), and Mexico (1). In terms of languages, we added three new translations—Japanese, Spanish, and Welsh—that increased our translation offerings to 16.

In 2009, eight libraries are joining the cohort of fourteen libraries plus the University of Maryland and ARL that have worked on the development of ClimateQUALTM to date. The ClimateQUALTM community of libraries will implement the survey in 2009 and come together at the ALA Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference to share best practices in terms of improving organizational climate as measured by perceptions of diversity, teamwork, learning, innovation, and fairness. A private ClimateQUALTM blog has been established to share information among the community of participating libraries. ClimateQUALTM aims to: (a) foster a culture of healthy organizational climate and diversity, (b) help libraries better understand staff perceptions of organizational climate and diversity, (c) facilitate the ongoing collection and interpretation of staff feedback, (d) identify best practices in managing organizational climate, and (e) enable libraries to interpret and act upon data. A ClimateQUALTM paper has been accepted and will be presented at the ACRL National Conference in Seattle on Saturday, March 14, at 1:00 p.m. If you are interesting in participating in ClimateQUALTM in 2009 or in the future, e-mail climatequal@arl.org.

31. Budget-Reduction Planning: ARL Assessment Forum at ALA Midwinter

In this difficult and rapidly changing economy, assessment can play a valuable role in providing information critical to support budget reduction and program review. The ARL Assessment Forum at the ALA Midwinter Meeting will discuss how libraries are using assessment results, statistics, performance measures/metrics, and other management information data to support planning and decision making related to budget cuts. The forum will be held Friday, January 23, 1:30-3:00 p.m., at the Curtis Hotel (Patty Cake Room), 1405 Curtis Street, Denver. (Note that this meeting is not listed in the ALA program--make a note of the date, time, and location.) If you’re interested in sharing experiences at your library or have questions about the forum, contact Martha Kyrillidou martha@arl.org.

32. ARL Library Scorecard under Development

ARL is initiating a year-long project to assist, train, facilitate, and refine the implementation of library scorecards during 2009. Four member institutions are participating in this project: Johns Hopkins, McMaster, Washington, and Virginia. Three librarians from each of these institutions will attend three half-day training sessions led by Accelerant, a strategy management group specializing in the implementation of scorecards in the nonprofit environment. The work of this group is building upon the foundation set by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, who wrote the influential book The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action published by the Harvard Business School. Participants will come together during monthly phone calls to review experiences and exchange feedback on the processes implemented at their institutions. During this tightening economic climate, this project is an investment in helping libraries make a stronger case for the value they deliver by developing metrics that are tied to strategy. Lessons learned from this experience will be shared with the larger community. Activities on this project will be initiated on March 10, 2009. If there are additional ARL libraries that would like to participate, please contact martha@arl.org.

33. The Contributions of the Library to the University

Two new studies examine the contributions of the library to the university: one study measures the library's value to faculty in terms of their productivity, the other measures the relationship between library expenditures and university reputation. In the December 2008 issue of Liber Quarterly, Paula Kaufman, University Librarian, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, reports on a study undertaken at her institution that uses output measures to demonstrate the library’s value to the university. The study targeted tenured faculty to gain insight into the role that the library plays in their research and grant processes. According to Kaufman: “The study sought to develop a quantitative measure that recognizes the library’s value in supporting the university’s strategic goals, using grant income generated by faculty using library materials. It also sought to confirm the benefits of using electronic resources and the resulting impact on productivity over a 10-year period.” This study provides a quantitative measure that might help to demonstrate the university’s return on investment in its library. See http://liber.library.uu.nl/publish/issues/2008-3_4/index.html?000269.

A forthcoming Journal of Academic Librarianship article by Sharon Weiner, Dean of Library Services, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, entitled "The Contribution of the Library to the Reputation of a University" explores the relationship between a peer-assessed reputation rating for doctoral universities with cross-institutional performance indicators for universities and their libraries, using the ARL Statistics among other sources. Weiner finds that library expenditures is the only consistently significant variable in this relationship. These findings are supportive of the ARL direction to make publicly available the Library Investment Index (formerly known as Expenditures-Focused Index) http://www.arl.org/stats/index/.

34. Humanities Indicators Developed by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

As part of the Initiative for Humanities and Culture, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences has worked with a consortium of humanities organizations to compile and analyze existing data on the state of the humanities. Patterned after the influential Science and Engineering Indicators (published every other year by the National Science Board), the new prototype set of Humanities Indicators is organized into five categories: (1) primary and secondary education, (2) undergraduate and graduate education, (3) the humanities workforce, (4) humanities funding and research, and (5) the humanities in American life. The Humanities Indicators Prototype is a framework and institutional base for the compilation, analysis, and publication of comprehensive longitudinal statistical data about the humanities. ARL Statistics data are featured under humanities research and funding highlighting research libraries. Trends such as expenditures, collection growth as reflected in volumes added, and changes in serials trends are featured. For more information, see http://www.humanitiesindicators.org/.

OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST TO ARL DIRECTORS

35. ARL at ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver

ARL, LibQUAL+®, and SPARC are hosting several events at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver this month, and LibQUAL+® is staffing booth #2152 in the Colorado Convention Center. For a detailed schedule, visit http://www.arl.org/events/arlala/.

37. ARL Transitions

California, Davis: University Librarian Marilyn Sharrow has begun a one-year medical leave of absence. During this leave period, the responsibilities of her position will be shared by Associate University Librarians Helen Henry and Gail Yokote.

38. Other Transitions

National Archives and Records Administration: Allen Weinstein resigned as Archivist of the United States, effective December 19, 2008, noting health concerns as the reason for stepping down. Deputy Archivist Adrienne Thomas has been named Acting Archivist until a new appointment is named and confirmed.

Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded 2008 National Leadership Grants to 44 institutions, including the following ARL libraries:

Arizona, University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science, University of Arizona University Information and Technology Services, Harvard University Herbaria, and Missouri Botanical GardensImproving Student Learning of Advanced Digital Technologies in an Online Laboratory: A Research Approach
$539,686

40. Memorial

Vern Mathew Pings, 1923–2008

Vern Mathew Pings died November 3, 2008, at Carol Woods Retirement Community in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Dr. Pings was at Wayne State University for 25 years, first as a medical librarian and later as Director of Libraries 1971–82, where he was active in local and regional interlibrary cooperation. As an ARL member representative for over a decade, Pings helped direct the Association's efforts to encourage development of an electronic network in support of interlibrary loan. He also founded the Southeastern Michigan League of Libraries and was the Acting Director of the Michigan Library Consortium 1974–76.